Senate votes 22-15 to repeal prevailing wage laws

LANSING —The Michigan Senate on Thursday narrowly passed a package of three bills that would repeal the state’s prevailing-wage laws after more than an hour of passionate debate on the issue, which was rushed through the chamber after only one committee hearing on Wednesday.

Prevailing-wage laws require that union-scale wages are paid on construction projects that use state taxpayer dollars. That covers mostly schools and government building projects. Only about 5% of road projects would be affected by a repeal, however, because most road projects in the state are partially funded with federal dollars, which — under the Davis-Bacon Act — requires that prevailing wages be paid. Read More